Frabjous Times

Last night on the radio there was this piece on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, a band which has been having a big debut on the music blogs. They sounded somewhat familiar, but I didn't recall hearing anything about their story, until they got to an excerpt from In This Home On Ice.

I had heard it before. It was on my MP3 player and on my computer, dated the first week of July. It took a little bit of searching, but I figured out that I had picked up because it had been featured on Fingertips Music at that time, which had the following praise:

But maybe the best example is at the end of the verse, a moment that sounds to me like the song's central pivot point (and best hook): the way the melody works through the same note twice with a classic (actually classical) chord progression through to the tonic, or home chord. Adding that extra line delays resolution even as it makes resolution all the more inevitable and delicious--extra-delicious, really, in the context of this nervous-seeming song. Don't by the way miss the wacky moment of Queen-ish anarchy in the bridge, which adds to the song's odd brilliance.

Yes, it has all that, and a good hook besides.

And now, four months later, there's a news piece about the phenomenon on mainstream media. I have considered myself well past the age where I could be on the edge of something new and exciting in music, but here I am identifying with the new tastemakers, and it feels strange.

Now I'm waiting for "Sun" by The Toms to hit it big on mainstream. (via Salon)